Birds and nature photography

My neighborhood has become an important place for many different types of birds to come drink water and sleep, eat and breed. From small hummingbirds to Canadian geese. But nothing is more impressive than the many types of raptors I see daily. Sometimes flying past my window. The red tail hawk is the most amazing for me.

Followed by the White tailed kite, which has the most exquisite feathers, rubi-red eyes, yellow claws and wings like angels, in a mix of white, grey and black. I see this bird is with a partner and it enjoys especially sunsets, when both stay up in the air, in vertical, facing the sun (this is when they actually look like angels.

A smaller raptor that is fast and cute (although a serial killer, I have to say) is the krestel, which in Spanish is called cernicalo. I always see them in pairs, as the White tailed kite, flying close to each other and enjoying the view of the sun as well. They fly low as they try to catch some small rodents. I the picture below you can see one of them with a dragonfly.

In the wetlands, life comes at you with no filters. They are humid, can be smelly, hot and filled with mosquitoes and other bugs. I can say I come back home with having been attacked by a different type of insect every time I visit.

The great thing about the wetlands are the many other beautiful animals that visit every day to refresh, relax and call it a day. They attract bigger birds, like herons, storks and many others.

But wetlands have a very important mission. They are an important ecosystem. Those muds, plants and bugs filter the water, that goes clean deep beneath the surface and fills subterranean streams.

They also retain the water we get from the rain so it does not go “wasted”, straight to the sea. Their capacity to absorb humidity and water makes them a rich source of nutrients and sediments for the earth.

At the same time they avoid floods because of this same capacity to absorb water like sponges. Wetlands also prevent coastal erosion and provide fish, seafood and crops like rice and salt.

Bug infested waters are a magnet to many other species that keep the food chain and nature’s cycles alive. The bad news is that they are shrinking, so anything you can do to help is important. Visit, donate or contribute voluntary work to your local wetland. Talk about it, post your pictures, and make sure to respect the rules and the animals in it.

Photography was a hobby when I was in my twenties, and stopped when I became a mom. By then, DSRLs had replaced SLRs and I chose video, until I created my first Instagram account. Just one year ago I bought a book at the MOMA in San Francisco and I decided to take my camera again and do something different. Why birds? Because they are difficult to capture, and beautiful.